Babolat star vs

Ok so I pulled my stringer out of the closet after years of working in a pro shop. Mission 1 was to make sure it powered up. Check! Mission 2 was to clean it. Not check! The clamps are stuck! I can glide them around the base like normal, but the teeth will not go in a circle! I am stuck and can not get them to move any ideas???

If I understand you right the shaft of the clamp will not spin in the base hostel. The first thing I would try would be to put some penetrating oil on the top of the hostel and let it sit overnight if it does not loosen up a bit try it again.

If I understand you right the shaft of the clamp will not spin in the base hostel. The first thing I would try would be to put some penetrating oil on the top of the hostel and let it sit overnight if it does not loosen up a bit try it again.

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Good in glad someone understood that! You explained it much better than i did. I will try that tomorrow and see if it works. Thanks for the tip!

Realize after soaking the clamp base with penetrating oils or solvents that these chemicals can and will wick into the inverted cone mechanism in the base. If this occurs you will need to remove the yellow plastic plug in the base and spray a degreaser spray into this opening to wash away dirt and cleaning solvents. Do this outside and not in a closed space.

Ok update all.... I've gotten it about 1/4 of the way out. I'm letting it soak some more but the more I pull the more rusty it is getting. Any other ideas? Are there any other clamps that I can buy and throw on this machine? I talked to babolat and they want $250 per clamp, how does this work size wise any one size fits all?

It is a good idea to use the penetrating oil from both the top and bottom of the clamp tower hole that holds the clamp shaft. What brand of penetrating oil are you using?

At this point, don't worry too much about a replacement clamp. After the clamp is removed, clean up the rust on the clamp shaft using 120 grit (or finer grit) sandpaper coated with the same penetrating oil. You will not remove enough material to cause a concern. Clean it up enough until the clamp shaft fits and turns freely in the clamp base tower. Clean the shaft thoroughly with the same penetrating oil to remove the sandpaper grit particles and then apply a light coat of grease to the shaft. Clean the base tower hole as well and the clamp should work OK. I use wheel bearing grease, but other non-hardening grease types will work also. Check with you local auto store.

If needed, I can post a photo of a home made tool that uses the same 120 grit sand paper to hone the inside diameter of the tower hole.

The goal is to lightly polish the shaft so that it rotates freely and smoothly in the base tower. The only real solution is to use 120 grit or finer sandpaper (preferably emery cloth from the hardware store) and lightly polish the clamp shaft using the penetrating oil as a lubricant. Emery cloth is best since it will last longer when coated with oil. It would be difficult to remove more than 0.0001" of the shaft diameter when polishing by hand. Any small amount of metal that is removed will not negatively affect the performance of the clamp in any way. Clean the shaft before testing it in the clamp tower. Repeat the polishing and test fit steps until you are satisfied with the fit.

As noted in the previous post, it is possible to make an inexpensive tool to polish (hone) the inside diameter of the base tower if needed.

Irvin, please state specifically why you think this process will not work. Every machinist or mechanic uses emery cloth to solve similar problems on all types of equipment.

As noted in the previous post, polishing with 120 grit will not remove much material, certainly not enough to increase play from the clamps original condition. The other control factor as noted above, is to polish/test, clean, then polish/test again until the fit is OK.

For gentle rust removal soak the parts in a mild Citric Acid solution overnight and brush the rust off with a toothbrush. Clean and polish with steel wool and a mild abrasive cleaner (comet)... an SOS pad will do as well. Gentler than sandpaper. You can always take more off but can't put it back on. Here's a good link...

I've used many methods of rust removal from wire wheels, sandblasting, electrolytic rust removal... The citric acid method works great for small parts when the rust is not too bad. Coat moving parts with a light layer of fluid film when done...

As noted in the previous post, polishing with 120 grit will not remove much material, certainly not enough to increase play from the clamps original condition. The other control factor as noted above, is to polish/test, clean, then polish/test again until the fit is OK.

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120 grit is pretty rough. Even 400 grit wet sand for rust would be plenty. Regardless of shaft slop, it's just going to lead to very uneven surface finish. If oxidation (rust) is an issue, keeping the surface smoother is going to be better.

shubydoobydo, looks like several ideas have been presented. If this machine was in my machine shop for repair, 120 grit emery cloth would be the choice. It is a good compromise between removing enough material (the parts are stuck together after all) and not being overly aggressive when used by hand. I have to respectfully disagree with the posters that see an uneven finish, especially when the emery cloth is used with the penetrating oil as a lubricant. Use 240 grit if you want to be extra cautious. The result will be the same, but will take more effort. 400 grit , fine steel wool and CAP have their place, but are not aggressive enough to help in this case since the parts have seized together. It is true that a polished surface will provide some degree of corrosion protection, but it will not help much in this application. The corrosion solution is to keep the clamp shaft lubricated and separate the clamp from the base when in storage. Fluid Film is a good corrosion preventive product, but can be a bit difficult to find locally and doesn't have the load bearing protection of even a light grease.

If it helps any, the above comes from 40 years experience in metals related manufacturing.

Ok I'm giving up unless there's any other ideas. They are all still stuck together and I have not been able to get them to budge even after soaking all weekend. Does anyone know comparable parts that I can use to replace these on my vs?

shubydoobydo, I can separate and recondition the base and clamp. If interested, you can send an email by clicking on my username. For reference, the webpage link shows parts that I make for older stringing machines.

shubydoobydo, I can separate and recondition the base and clamp. If interested, you can send an email by clicking on my username. For reference, the webpage link shows parts that I make for older stringing machines.

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Hey D110, what industry are you in? Are you doing fabrication of these parts yourself (I assume so from your anecdote above)?

My dad is in tool and die, I always find stuff like this very interesting. Any interest in doing a Q/A thread on your designs? Might drive some traffic to you as well. (As an aside, linking to pages that sell stuff if generally a no-no, but if you did want to have one of these threads, I'd suggest leaving an e-mail where you can be contacted in the OP, and then making the rest of the thread about discussing your designs-- if you're interested, of course.)

Hey D110, what industry are you in? Are you doing fabrication of these parts yourself (I assume so from your anecdote above)?

My dad is in tool and die, I always find stuff like this very interesting. Any interest in doing a Q/A thread on your designs? Might drive some traffic to you as well. (As an aside, linking to pages that sell stuff if generally a no-no, but if you did want to have one of these threads, I'd suggest leaving an e-mail where you can be contacted in the OP, and then making the rest of the thread about discussing your designs-- if you're interested, of course.)

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This may be getting off topic but a day will come when one can just print a part they need in a home workshop...

Hey D110, what industry are you in? Are you doing fabrication of these parts yourself (I assume so from your anecdote above)?

My dad is in tool and die, I always find stuff like this very interesting. Any interest in doing a Q/A thread on your designs? Might drive some traffic to you as well. (As an aside, linking to pages that sell stuff if generally a no-no, but if you did want to have one of these threads, I'd suggest leaving an e-mail where you can be contacted in the OP, and then making the rest of the thread about discussing your designs-- if you're interested, of course.)

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I am retired after 40 years in metals related manufacturing and now have a small machine shop that fabricates all of the upgrade kits. Thanks for the opportunity to start a thread about the kits that are available and I will do that today or tomorrow. A webpage link can be found by clicking on my user ID. The site shows all of the products and has contact information. Customer machines that have been upgraded include Ektelon C, D, DE and H, Gamma 4000 and Toalson 4000